


It's Impawssible

by Azar443



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-07
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-10 05:11:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11120604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azar443/pseuds/Azar443
Summary: "The cat appears the same time Percival Graves returns from Europe."





	It's Impawssible

The cat appears the same time Percival Graves returns from Europe.

That’s the first thing Tina notices. The second thing she notices is that the jet black cat with elegant white markings around its paws and furry chest very much dislikes the Director, but the strange thing is that Mr Graves seems terribly amused by this, and allows the cat to remain in the MACUSA building. Tina thinks it’s odd how the cat will hiss and scratch at Mr Graves but all the man does is nudge the cat away with his polished shoes; she doesn’t recall him having a particular fondness for felines, or just animals for the matter.

The other Aurors aren’t as perturbed by the cat’s appearance as they are by how aggressive it is. The first few days are an absolute horror; the cat alternates between destroying individual desks and upending paperwork, and running around their feet in circles. Complaints to Mr Graves about how the cat is affecting their productivity fall on deaf ears; their boss is insistent that the cat will remain at MACUSA and all the Aurors can do is grumble about it under their breaths and continue to try to shake the cat off.

Tina thinks the cat is trying to tell them something, but her male colleagues condescendingly laugh at her “womanly logic” and ignore her. She huffs at their sense of male superiority and is surprised to find the cat staring at her mournfully, and she can’t help but wonder at the almost human expressiveness of the cat. Tentatively, she pets its head and, looking around to make sure no one is watching, whispers a quiet sorry to the cat, whose entire body seems to deflate at her apology. She feels sorry for it, though she doesn’t quite know why, because if the animal were human, it would look like it had just given up.

The day Madame Picquery sees the cat, who everyone has resorted to calling Drac because of how often he (Jacobs, the cat expert of the department was the one who discovered the cat’s gender) leaves painful puncture marks from his bites, everyone is horrified and they fall over themselves to make excuses. Instead, they are all surprised when the stately woman gracefully picks Drac up and starts to cuddle him. From the surprised meows coming from Drac, he’s as surprised as they are. For some reason, seeing the President holding Drac in her arms makes Mr Graves bark with laughter, to which the cat replies with angry hisses as he tries to escape from Madame Picquery’s secure hold. After that day, the Aurors begin to get used to seeing the President visit their department daily under the pretense of meeting with Mr Graves; really, they all know she has a soft spot for the demon cat and just wants an excuse to play with him.

Drac’s bad behavior goes on for the first two weeks, although the bites have stopped. He seems to behaves slightly more for Tina, to which her colleagues tease her about how she has a gentleman caller, albeit of the animal kind. She rolls her eyes at their jokes and continues to focus on the case before her. Well, it’s not an official case approved by Mr Graves or anyone in MACUSA, but she’s determined to intervene anyway. She sees the scars on the poor Barebone boy every time she passes by the spot where his demented mother preaches about the extermination of witches, and she can’t help but want to take him away from all the pain. Something in the sweet boy’s dark tortured eyes cried out to her and she doesn’t know him, but she knows he’s screaming for help whenever he turns his doleful gaze towards her. She makes sure to hide the information she has on the Barebone family under piles of official files so no one sees it, but Drac does. He’s sitting on the thick rule book she always keeps on her desk, flicking his tail irately when he seems to read her notes. Which is ridiculous, because cats can’t read, right? But Tina squeals when he suddenly dives towards her notes and hisses at her, his small but sharp fangs bared angrily at her. She watches in a sort of fascinated horror as he proceeds to, very methodically she might add, destroy her carefully written notes. Jacobs comes over to drag the angry ball of fur away from her desk as Drac continues to yowl at Tina. Later, when she’s been demoted to Wand Permits, Tina wonders if he might have been warning her.

A few days later, Drac sees the boxes on Tina’s desk. By the afternoon, it’s as if she was never there at all. He pads over the wooden surface and meows curiously at Faith Roberts, the only other female Auror who used to sit just next to the dark haired woman. Faith only sighs and scratches the cat behind his ear, leaving the cat with more questions than answers. Percival Graves walks by then, and upon seeing Drac on Tina’s empty desk, smirks at the cat and he sees Tina’s file with the large red words “suspended” stamped over her picture. Drac spats at him and it’s only because Faith grabs him by the scruff of his neck that he doesn’t scratch Graves’ face off. The man in question only tuts and places his finger against his lips, shushing the cat. Drac manages to disentangle himself from Faith’s grasp and glares at her before stalking proudly to Graves’ office. The entire department is in an uproar when the pungent smell of cat shit fills the room, and Graves is red in the face as the normally calm man roars at his subordinates to remove the cat, who all too happily allows himself to be picked up and removed from the department, his fluffy black tail waving happily in the air.

Eventually, everyone gets used to Drac. He doesn’t try to bite or scratch anyone anymore, but some of the Aurors swear that he watches them somberly whenever they’re filling out reports, as if he’s making sure they’re not making any stupid mistakes. It’s kind of cute really, the way his big green eyes seem to scrutinize their every move, or how his furry ears twitch at every small noise or movement. Everyone agrees though, that his best feature is definitely his large fluffy tail, and no one ever admits it, but whenever Drac cleans himself, they all steal a look because they’ve never seen a cat look so elegant as he’s delicately licking his white paws. He’s become a sort of a lucky charm and mascot to the department. Whenever a someone leaves for a mission, they rub his soft head fondly, tell him they’re heading off and to wish them well. It warms their hearts when his sharp green eyes seem to soften and he offers them a tentative lick on the hand and a small purr, almost like he’s telling them to be careful and not to die. Someone brings it up in hushed whispers in the coffee room, and about how Mr Graves used to see them off and offer quiet words of encouragement, and how he doesn’t do that anymore. One Auror suggests that he’s been different since he came back from Europe, that he’s harder and his eyes have in them a stone cold glint that never used to be there, but someone else dismisses that notion, that Mr Graves has just been under a lot of pressure and of course he’d be different. Weren’t they all? If Tina was there with them, she’d say no, that Percival Graves could be more quiet, more reserved but never more cold, that he could be different but not _that_ different. But Tina’s not there, and Drac can’t speak, but he wishes he can.

As the weeks past, they begin to worry about Drac. The normally feisty cat is quiet, his gleaming black coat has lost its glossy sheen and he does nothing but silently pad through the room and meow sadly at everyone. They don’t know what to do; Jacobs brings toys that everyone takes turns with, trying to  coax Drac into playing. They try changing his diet, try playing soothing music in the office, and they even try to get Madame Picquery to have him on alternate days, just in case he’s gotten bored of them. Nothing works. It’s as if he’s wasting away each day and he’s trying to get them to do something, but because pressure is mounting on MACUSA to find and apprehend Grindelwald, and because Drac can’t tell them what’s wrong with him, the entire department is helpless to do anything.

* * *

Then the fiasco with the Obscurial and Newt Scamander’s magical suitcase happens, and no one has the time to try to make Drac feel better. They still pet him and feed him and play with him, but they do so half-heartedly, too distracted by work to properly pay attention to the him. When Graves calls for several Aurors to assist him in dealing with Scamander, the office is abuzz with rumors about how Tina Goldstein was arrested for helping a British wizard smuggle a dangerous creature that caused the death of a No-Maj and the recent destructions in the city. Drac’s ears prick up at the mention of Scamander; he recognizes that name and even though his feline brain can’t quite remember why that name is important, he knows enough that he discretely slips out after the people Graves called for and tries to get to the man with the magical suitcase.

He runs into the pink clad Queenie instead, who’s holding a nondescript brown suitcase while Abernathy has her cornered on the steps near the entrance of the MACUSA building. He meows impatiently at her, and the blonde’s eyes widen at the tumultuous waves of thoughts coming from the black cat. She catches the words “Graves”, “imposter” and “Scamander” and Drac gratefully chirrups when she immediately scoops him into her arms as she Apparates away from MACUSA and onto a quiet rooftop far away enough that the Aurors don’t come looking for them there.

He stares in wonder when he’s taken by Queenie into the impossibly large interior of Newt Scamander’s suitcase, and everyone is confused at why the bubbly witch is carrying a cat. Drac waits patiently for Queenie to get the important bits of what’s really happening to Tina, Newt and the man he learns is a No-Maj named Jacob, and Tina lets out a distressed cry when she realizes that the cat that has been terrorizing the office for all these months was her real boss, and that the man wearing his face was none other than Gellert fucking Grindelwald. The Dark Wizard everyone was hunting for so long had been hiding in plain sight, under their noses the whole time and they didn’t know. So much for being the cream of the crop.

As the humans are planning their next moves, and how to turn the real Percival Graves back into a human, said man (or cat) makes his way around Newt’s world. He runs into the nest of Occamies who chirp and croon at him, and he extends a cautious paw to softly pet the head of the nearest Occamy. The creature stares up curiously at his white paw before it slithers up his limb and nestles against his warm fur. Its siblings call out excitedly to it and Percival lets the little creature slide back into its nest. He hears a low growl from behind him, and he turns to see a Nundu. Well, Percival calls it a giant lion in his head, he doesn’t know what a Nundu is and what it looks like, and it’s that blissful ignorance that allows him to stare back at the snarling lion-like creature unflinchingly.

Newt suddenly realizes the little cat is gone mid-discussion and his heart nearly jumps out of his skin when he realizes the patch of black he sees just before his Nundu is said cat. The magizoologist slowly approaches the beast with Tina in tow, but stops abruptly when he sees the ferocious Nundu, which could easily eat an entire elephant, gently trying to lick the comparatively tiny cat with its equally large tongue. Percival the cat doesn’t know the danger he’s in, but even he realizes he’s lucky to be receiving a gentle lick from the Nundu and not have his body ripped apart. So he endures having a tongue larger than his human form lathering saliva all over him, all the while staring at Newt and Tina with a long suffering look, almost as if he were saying _“I’m the Director of Magical Security, I deserve better than this”_.

* * *

Percival is made to stay in the suitcase when everyone leaves for the surface world. He understands that he is more of a burden than help to them in this weak (and fluffy) form, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t try to bite Newt and Jacob when they try to pet him goodbye. He doesn’t bite Tina or Queenie, only because his mother raised him to be a gentleman, although the grumpy look on his face let’s them know he’s displeased at having to sit out from all the action, and Queenie can’t help but place a kiss on his tiny white nose because he was just too adorable. Percival yowls unhappily because he is not adorable. He’s not.

In the time he’s been locked in the suitcase, he finds himself meeting Dougal the Demiguise, who immediately takes hold of him and grooms his fur. Percival groans inwardly; just how much more disgrace must he tolerate? He won’t admit it, but Dougal’s soothing touch is comfortable, and before he knows it, he’s purring happily and taking a nap in the Demiguise’s warm nest. Newt’s creatures curiously surround the human-turned-feline, and the Niffler reaches his arm out for the shiny collar the Aurors had fastened on Percival’s neck, but a Mooncalf butts it away, its gentle wide eyes reproachful. The Niffler pouts. It’s not its fault the collar is so shiny.

* * *

Percival blinks his round eyes blearily when he realizes someone is carrying him out of the suitcase. He spies freckles and ginger curls, and before he can escape Newt’s hold, he’s met with sunlight and the surprised faces of his Aurors and the President. He’s carefully set down on the ground and is picked up by an amused Seraphina Picquery who’s trying to contain a smile. He meows grumpily and if he was back in human form, he’d definitely be crossing his arms. To his horror and disgrace, he is carried like a child all the way to the largest wizarding hospital in New York, where he has to endure further humiliation at the hands of the medical team, who hmm and haw over him for several hours before he’s finally back to human. Percival cautiously reaches for the top of his head and is relieved not to feel a pair of fluffy ears, and he swears he could cry with joy when he opens his mouth and proper words and not meows come out. The first thing he does after being discharged with a clear bill of health (aside from the reminder that he could still feel the urge to lick himself clean) is stomp all the way to where Grindelwald is held. The Aurors who are in charge of guarding the Dark Wizard swear they saw and heard nothing, and if their surprise at seeing Grindelwald’s bloody face and dislocated shoulder seem unconvincing, no one says anything.

When Percival returns to his office with bruised knuckles and a satisfied mien, he is wordlessly handed a roll of bandages and essence of Murtlap. He doesn’t stay long, and his people say their goodbyes and go back to their work. The sound of cheering burst out just as the door closes, and Percival just quietly laughs and thinks it’s good to be home, and to be human again. He clamps a hand over his mouth though, when his normal human laugh ends with a faint meow and he grimaces, thankful no one has heard him. It’s official, Percival Graves dislikes cats.


End file.
